MOSCOW, June 28 (UPI) -- Following moves on natural gas pipelines, officials from Belarus met in Moscow to discuss further cooperation in the gas sector with Gazprom, the company said.
Russian gas monopoly Gazprom holds a 50-percent stake in gas company Beltransgaz. Both sides in 2006 signed a gas supply and transit contract through 2011.
"The Gazprom headquarters hosted today another round of talks between Alexei Miller, chairman of the Gazprom management committee, and Vladimir Semashko, first deputy prime minister of the Republic of Belarus, on the documents being prepared for signing," the Russian company said in a statement. "The parties also discussed other issues of cooperation in the gas sector."
Belarus last week said it might sell Gazprom its entire stake in its natural gas pipelines.
Belarus is in the grips of a major financial crisis that's accompanied by major declines in the value of its national currency.
A Russian power trader in early June cut electricity supplies to Belarus because the country's power utility hasn't paid its bills.
Russian electricity makes up only 10 percent of Belarusian energy supplies. The country made due without Russian electricity in 2010.
